Jordan's Labour Ministry’s inspection teams carried out 5,329 field visits in March, where they fined more than 1,500 institutions and issued warnings to 840 for violating labour regulations, the minister said on Wednesday.

“We have intensified the inspection visits in order to ensure employers’ abidance by the regulations,” Labour Minister Nidal Katamine said in a statement sent to The Jordan Times.

Katamine added that the inspectors checked nearly 1,000 institutions for the first time.

He noted that the ministry received 434 labour-related complaints over the past months, adding that his specialised staff managed to resolve 365 cases, nearly 84 per cent of the total complaints.

Inspectors also carried out 70 field visits to institutions recruiting children under the legal age, Katamine said, adding that 29 employers were fined and 23 others received warnings.

“In line with a seminar held earlier this month on child labour, the ministry is cooperating with other stakeholders to conduct a survey covering the governorates of Mafraq and Irbid in the near future to identify the extent of the child labour problem there,” the minister said.

He underlined that the ministry is keen to ensure safety at the workplace, adding that last month, it accredited 16 professional safety supervisors, 10 professional safety physicians, 22 committees and four specialised nurses in the field.

“Workers’ safety in the workplace is among our top priorities, and we are working on holding training courses at the Vocational Training Centre for work safety supervisors due to the shortage of people this profession,” Katamine said.

He added that the ministry investigated 21 suspected human trafficking cases in March and February, in which 25 individuals were victims, while 31 persons were found involved in trafficking and referred to the judiciary for legal action.